In December of 2021, a jury found the well-known Puerto Rican music producer Raphy Pina guilty on two charges of illegal possession of weapons, in a very mediatic case whose sentence will be announced this 18 April 2022 in the Federal Court in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
It only took a couple of hours for the court, made up of seven women and five men, to reach their verdict. Luckily, Pina was released, although under the modality of home restriction and was only allowed to go out for medical, religious matters, as well as to testify in court.
What did Raphy Pina do ?
In April 2020 the FBI raided one of the residences of Natti Natasha’s fiancé located in Caguas Real, Puerto Rico, where firearms and around 526 ammunition were found. One of them was illegally modified to fire automatically.
According to court documents, Pina Nieves had a Glock pistol 19, caliber nine millimeters, in addition to a Smith & Wesson pistol .19.
The other charge facing Rafael Antonio Pina Nieves, real name of the producer , is for possession of firearms being a federal convict, since in 2015 he was convicted of bank fraud and was sentenced to 2 years of supervised release in 2016.
Pina now faces up to a maximum of ten years in prison for each of these charges.
After learning of the guilty verdict, the president of the record label Pina Records addressed the press at court doors to ensure that he will not give up and will continue to fight.
“Of 12 rounds I just lost the first. I am a warrior. I’m going to keep going and I’m going to show the world who Raphy Pina is”, he pronounced last December.
Later, Pina issued a statement through a video posted on his account Instagram to tell his followers his position on the situation.
“The government knows that I am not a drug trafficker, that my money is legal, that I have all those things legally and by the sweat of my brow,” declared he, who has represented some of the most important artists of the urban genre, among them, Nicky Jam, Daddy Yankee and Don Omar.
Now, before knowing what will happen to his future, the Puerto Rico Prosecutor’s Office considers that Raphy should remain in prison while his appeal process lasts, because it has not shown that it does not represent a flight risk or danger to the community.
For now, Raphy Pina’s sentencing hearing that was scheduled for April 1 has been delayed to 18 of the same month.